Research on Rescue Guiding Mechanism in Buildings: Illustrated by the Building Information Guiding System †
1
Department of Architecture, Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung 413310, Taiwan
2
Department of Creative Design, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Yunlin 640301, Taiwan
3
Department of Visual Communication Design, Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung 413310, Taiwan
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
Presented at the IEEE 5th Eurasia Conference on Biomedical Engineering, Healthcare and Sustainability, Tainan, Taiwan, 2–4 June 2023.
Eng. Proc. 2023, 55(1), 73; https://doi.org/10.3390/engproc2023055073
Published: 11 December 2023
(This article belongs to the Proceedings of 2023 IEEE 5th Eurasia Conference on Biomedical Engineering, Healthcare and Sustainability)
Abstract
:When disasters such as fires or earthquakes occur, rescue personnel entering buildings are prone to spatial disorientation when the buildings have complex indoor compartments or compartments with high uniformity and similarity. This situation may expose both the people waiting for help and the rescue personnel to dangerous conditions. Therefore, this research study proposes that government search and rescue units can pre-establish a database of indoor spatial information for buildings. When a disaster occurs, the spatial information needed by rescue personnel can be transmitted in real-time and displayed on wearable 3D display systems. Given this proposal, we have developed a “Building Information Guiding System” (BIGS) to provide spatial information in real-time through the “Wearable Augmented-reality Seeking System” (WASS). BIGS uses QR codes presented at different information anchors in a building to display various embedded spatial information on horizontal and vertical escape paths, the locations of exits, firefighting equipment, and electrical power generator sets. According to the information provided by BIGS, 3D virtual arrows can be displayed in the air by the HoloLens augmented reality helmet worn by the rescue personnel in order to guide the direction toward the target. The BIGS system can read the Building Information Modeling (BIM) file submitted with new construction projects to the government construction management units and then input necessary spatial information to the file to establish an exclusive 3D spatial database for that new construction. BIGS can also construct an entire 3D spatial database for an old building by reading the BIM 3D point cloud model created through 3D laser scanning. This study explores the feasibility of using the BIM model to construct the BIGS system, the presentation mechanism of serial QR codes in real space, and the steps and modes of inputting spatial information into the 3D spatial database.
1. Introduction
When a construction disaster occurs, the first-line rescue personnel often enter the disaster site immediately, and every second counts when attempting to rescue the people who need help. However, the rescue personnel may not be familiar with the indoor layout of different buildings. If the indoor paths are complicated, or if smoke from a fire obstructs the line of sight, the rescue personnel are prone to spatial disorientation, which places the rescue personnel at increased risk of danger [1].
For evaluation purposes, we laser-scanned a daycare center to build a point cloud 3D digital model and added a dynamic fire smoke simulation effect into the virtual-reality scenery. Then, we invited the firefighters of the Fire Bureau of Taichung City Government for a test. The simulation revealed that even professional firefighters start to become nervous when they are in an unfamiliar and smoky space where they cannot see clearly. It takes them more time to find the emergency exit (Figure 1).
Therefore, it is necessary to create 3D spatial information for each building in advance and store the location information regarding firefighting facilities, escape equipment, and emergency exits in the database. Through an appropriate information presentation mechanism that provides timely 3D spatial information, the system can help to protect the lives of personnel even under extreme environmental conditions such as humidity, high temperature, dense smoke, power outage, and lack of indoor navigation signals.
The pre-established 3D spatial database of buildings can help rescue personnel quickly familiarize themselves with their surroundings when an accident occurs. The database can also be utilized in daily training or pre-mission training.
2. Literature and Case Study Review
2.1. Literature Review
Since interior spaces are often remodeled and furnished, they tend to be different from the original appearance of the building when they are initially constructed. This affects the rescue and escape path. Therefore, the database establishment for critical indoor facilities must first focus on making the 3D model of interior spaces in their current state.
With the advancement of technology, the most accurate way to build indoor digital 3D models is to use laser scanning techniques, and many products are already on the market. However, the price of laser scanning equipment is high, and the scanning speed is slow, so it is not suitable for operations requiring scanning a large number of buildings. Another method is 3D photo scanning. 3D photo scanning technology is not as accurate as laser scanning but has a much faster scanning speed. After continuously optimizing 3D photo scanning technology by researchers [2,3,4,5], it is possible to quickly complete spatial scanning modeling using tablets or even mobile phones. Since the 3D model used to display the location of critical indoor facilities does not need to be smooth and perfect, photo scanning technology is suitable for establishing a database of indoor spatial information for buildings.
In addition, we suggest that the scanned 3D format should be stored in a point cloud format (such as .e57 or .xyz) and integrated into the information model constructed by BIM software (such as ArchiCAD or Revit) to facilitate the integration and expansion of future architectural information.
2.2. Case Study
Companies in Taiwan have already built indoor spatial maps combined with mobile phone indoor positioning technology [6] and have applied them to department location guidance services between different hospital buildings. This technology focuses on indoor mobile phone positioning guidance, not constructing a 3D database. Thus, the user’s mobile phone screen only displays a 2D map mode.
However, this indoor positioning method relies on electronic signal transmitters and receivers. It does not work under extreme environmental conditions such as power outages, high temperatures, humidity, dense smoke, and a lack of indoor navigation signals. Therefore, the simpler the indoor positioning method, the better. In this study, we conclude that relay QR code positioning combined with inertial navigation is the first choice for indoor positioning in extreme environments.
3. Establishing BIGS
This research study screens out the four most important building elements or facilities related to firefighting and rescue purposes for most buildings. The locations of these four items are set as information anchor points in a building. These items include a fire hose box, safety exit, fire extinguisher, and fire escape equipment.
The steps to construct a database of indoor spatial information for buildings are as follows.
3.1. Building Spatial Digital Information
- 3D laser scanning to create a point cloud model.
- Converting the created point cloud model into the BIM model.
- Adding “information anchor point” such as firefighting/escape equipment, emergency exit, and others. Text descriptions, image descriptions, and other information are added in each “Information Anchor Point” and stored in the database together.
The completed spatial information can be used by search and rescue units for daily training or pre-service education.
3.2. Building 3D Guiding Symbols on the Building Site
- Placing a QR Code at the actual location of each “Information Anchor Point”
- Building a list of “missions” in which every mission contains different series of “Information Anchor Points” in the space through the Dynamics 365 Guides software interface.
- Placing 3D guiding symbols or information tags floating in the air to connect a series of locations of information anchor points according to different missions.
3.3. Exploring Spatial Digital Information
When used in conjunction with a Wearable Augmented-reality Seeking System (WASS), the smart glasses can be used to read the QR Code embedded in each “Information Anchor Point” in order to read the set spatial information.
4. Experiment and Discussion
There are many paper books in libraries. If there is a fire, the books are at risk of producing a lot of thick smoke, which may hinder firefighters from finding the locations of fire hose boxes, safety exits, fire extinguishers, and/or fire escape equipment. Therefore, we used the 6F stack of the library of the Chaoyang University of Technology (Figure 2) as the location to conduct the spatial information embedding experiment of BIGS.
In Figure 3 and Figure 4, there are four fire hose boxes, A, B, C, and D on the sixth floor. First, we started from fire hose box A at the entrance (Figure 5) and built mission options leading to the location of the other three fire hose boxes. In each task option, we used AR software (Dynamics 365 Guides) to place 3D guiding arrows floating in the air.
Since most buildings have a fire hose box at the main entrance to provide water in the event of a fire, an emergency power supply, and an light source, it is easier for search and rescue personnel to use the fire hose box at the main entrance as the starting point of spatial information to extend outward.
When the search and rescue personnel wear the smart glasses, they can choose the task they want to perform and see the corresponding 3D arrows in the smart glasses to guide them to the target (Figure 6). Since these 3D arrows are virtual objects that are floating in the air with inertial positioning, as long as they are positioned, the images do not disappear or shift and do not become invisible due to smoke blocking the line of sight (Figure 7 and Figure 8).
The Chaoyang University of Technology is establishing an innovative campus and has built many real-time monitoring systems for electric energy consumption, air quality, and indoor temperature (Figure 9). In the future, if BIGS can be pre-built in each campus corner, it can help firefighters or rescue personnel complete tasks quickly and accurately if/when a disaster occurs.
5. Conclusions
We have developed a model with the BIGS database to assist search and rescue personnel in completing tasks safely in unfamiliar building spaces. To keep functioning under extreme environmental conditions, such as power outages, high temperature, humidity, dense smoke, and lack of indoor navigation signals, we suggest that the greater accessibility of BIGS information, the better. Therefore, a QR code made with fireproof materials posted next to a fire hose box is the first choice for information anchor positioning. According to Point 6, Section 4, Chapter 1, “the Fire Bureau of Taichung City Government Guiding Principles for Operation and Maintenance of Disaster Relief Equipment”, at the scene of a fire, hot smoke accumulates in high places. Thus, the zone close to the floor can provide better visibility, and a low posture is advised for movement in these areas (Figure 10).
Therefore, it is recommended that the positioning anchor QR codes of BIGS should be posted around the lower area of a fire hose box. The first fire hydrant box can be used at the entrance as the first information anchor point to guide the fire search and rescue personnel to find the other information anchor points in sequence or return to the first information anchor point at the entrance. In this way, BIGS can help rescue personnel reach their destination without disorientation in buildings with complex internal partitions or high indoor feature consistency in an emergency situation. The database of BIGS can also be utilized in daily or pre-mission training. BIGS can combine Building Information Models (BIM) and Geometric Information Systems (GIS) to construct smart buildings and smart cities.
Author Contributions
Conceptualization, C.-G.K., B.P.C.L. and C.-W.L.; Methodology, C.-G.K. and C.-W.C.; Formal analysis, C.-G.K.; Resources, C.-G.K., B.P.C.L. and C.-W.C.; Data curation, C.-G.K.; writing—review and editing, C.-G.K.; project administration, B.P.C.L. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding
Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan (project number: MOST 108-2221-E-324-001-MY3).
Institutional Review Board Statement
Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement
Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement
Data are contained within the article.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan (project number: MOST 108-2221-E-324-001-MY3). The authors wish to extend their thanks to the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan for the project support.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
References
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Figure 1.
Firefighters of the Fire Bureau of Taichung City Government participating in a VR simulation test.
Figure 1.
Firefighters of the Fire Bureau of Taichung City Government participating in a VR simulation test.
Figure 2.
Panoramic view at the entrance of the sixth floor of Chaoyang University Library.
Figure 3.
Sixth floor plan of Chaoyang University Library. The blue letters A, B, C, and D identify the location of four fire hose hydrant boxes.
Figure 3.
Sixth floor plan of Chaoyang University Library. The blue letters A, B, C, and D identify the location of four fire hose hydrant boxes.
Figure 4.
The photos of the four fire hose hydrant boxes labeled with A, B, C, and D in Figure 3.
Figure 4.
The photos of the four fire hose hydrant boxes labeled with A, B, C, and D in Figure 3.
Figure 5.
Information anchor point #1 at the sixth floor elevator hall in Chaoyang University Library.
Figure 5.
Information anchor point #1 at the sixth floor elevator hall in Chaoyang University Library.
Figure 6.
The first two virtual arrows beside the first anchor point. The virtual arrows will not be blocked by objects or heavy smoke.
Figure 6.
The first two virtual arrows beside the first anchor point. The virtual arrows will not be blocked by objects or heavy smoke.
Figure 7.
The third and fourth guiding arrows are positioned in the air.
Figure 8.
The positioned arrows will not disappear or move much, even after returning from long distance movement from the first anchor point.
Figure 8.
The positioned arrows will not disappear or move much, even after returning from long distance movement from the first anchor point.
Figure 9.
The real-time air quality monitoring system at the intelligent campus of Chaoyang University of Technology.
Figure 9.
The real-time air quality monitoring system at the intelligent campus of Chaoyang University of Technology.
Figure 10.
Firefighters are practicing moving forward in a low posture [7].
Figure 10.
Firefighters are practicing moving forward in a low posture [7].
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MDPI and ACS Style
Kuo, C.-G.; Liu, B.P.C.; Lee, C.-W.; Chiu, C.-W. Research on Rescue Guiding Mechanism in Buildings: Illustrated by the Building Information Guiding System. Eng. Proc. 2023, 55, 73. https://doi.org/10.3390/engproc2023055073
AMA Style
Kuo C-G, Liu BPC, Lee C-W, Chiu C-W. Research on Rescue Guiding Mechanism in Buildings: Illustrated by the Building Information Guiding System. Engineering Proceedings. 2023; 55(1):73. https://doi.org/10.3390/engproc2023055073
Chicago/Turabian StyleKuo, Chyi-Gang, Benson P. C. Liu, Chi-Wei Lee, and Chien-Wei Chiu. 2023. "Research on Rescue Guiding Mechanism in Buildings: Illustrated by the Building Information Guiding System" Engineering Proceedings 55, no. 1: 73. https://doi.org/10.3390/engproc2023055073
